In Lockdown

Since February 2020 I have been volunteering at the Museum of Croydon once a week with Lindsay Ould, the Borough Archivist and additionally on the Lost Theatres Project. I have always had an interest in History and volunteering on The Fairfield Collection a few a years ago introduced me to working with archives, an interest I have kept and hope to peruse as career.

Working with Lindsay once a week gives me an insight into the everyday workings of an archive and the variety of collections they hold. I’ve already learnt a great deal about the sort of records the Museum holds and what it hopes to collect growing forward. I have greatly enjoyed working with Lindsay answering enquires from the public who are conducting family or local research, learning how to use the physical records in the archive has been a learning curve in terms of knowing where to look, what to look for and how to interpret the right record.

Before the lockdown I was working on a collection of letters written by Eric Alfred Blake Pritchard during the First World War. Pritchard attended Whitgift school and lived in Thornton Heath with his family to whom he wrote during the war as well as to his local Quacker Meeting House. The letters contain details about his time as a medical orderly with the Anglo-American Mission and within some of the letters he expressed his position as a conscious objector.

This collection is really interesting to work on as it really showed me the work that goes into accepting a new record into a collection. All the letters had to be repackaged into archive grade wallets to better protect them during storage and when they are used by researchers. During the process of repackaging all the letters were numbered and any old fastenings such as paperclips or pins were removed. Before the closure I was working on creating a brief summary of each letter which included interpreting the handwriting of letters written in both English and French, a challenge to begin with but as you read more letters I found that the brain quickly adapts and it’s like reading a book. I can’t wait to get back to the letters and continue to learn about Pritchard’s experiences during the First World War. Since the Museum closed and I’ve been working from home, I’ve started working on the Fairfield Collection again. Using the list of events created during the project I have been building on the Master Diary and comparing it with the relevant paper diaries from that year. Fairfield Halls is a venue I have a lot of interest and connection to and I am really enjoying continuing to document its history and learning more about the people and acts who have performed there. Working with Lindsay has been invaluable as she passed on her knowledge and advice about the industry.

Gabby
Collections Volunteer
Museum of Croydon